For us dog lovers, there’s nothing quite like a story about someone who goes out of his way to help a pooch – or a pooch who goes out of his way to help a human or animal.
These were our most popular feel-good stories for each month of 2013. Grab your pooch and a few tissues, and enjoy (or re-enjoy) them all.
January: LAPD Officers Rescue and Raise Funds for Injured Pit Bull Mix
Los Angeles Police Department officers Jennifer Cohen, Cindy Herrera and Valerie Lancaster were returning to their station on Jan. 10 when they saw a Pit Bull-Shar Pei mix lying motionless on the sidewalk. They were told the dog had been hit by a car, and had been lying there, ignored, for five hours.
The officers took the dog – who they named Philly in honor of their captain, Phillip Tingirides – to a nearby animal emergency hospital. They became Philly’s foster moms and raised funds to pay for his medical care, including an artificial elbow for his severely fractured left front leg.
“Philly is doing so good,” the Rescuing Philly Facebook page reported in a Dec. 16 update. “He is playing so much and his energy level is through the roof. We have a strong feeling Philly will keep his leg.”
Click here to read more.
February: Police Officer Stops Traffic to Rescue Dog on Texas Highway
“This police officer stopped traffic, in the rain, to save this wet and limping little dog,” wrote MissEmKay in the caption of a photo she posted on Reddit that went viral. “Faith in humanity … Restored.”
Kyle Jones, an officer with the La Porte Police Department, carried the dog to safety in his patrol car.
The little pup, named Cujo, had escaped from his house through an open door. Thanks to Officer Jones and a microchip, Cujo was reunited with his dog dad, Jeremy Zapalac, who said his pooch was “very short, but with a very big ego.”
Click here to read more.
March: Overjoyed Dogs Reunite with the Hero Who Saved Them
Scott Garrison was tending bar in Bangor Township, Mich., when he looked out a window and saw two dogs walking on a frozen river.
When the dogs broke through the ice, Garrison ran to save them, jumping into the frigid water. He was able to pull them both to shore, and used his belt as a leash to walk them back to the bar.
Animal control officers took the dogs to a local shelter, and they were eventually reunited with their pet parents. In the meantime, Garrison paid a visit to the shelter to check on the lucky dogs. You can see just how happy they were to reunite with their hero.
Click here to read more.
April: Man Saves Dog That Was Weighted Down and Thrown in River
Troy Jones was walking by a river in Indiana when he heard whining. He looked at the river and saw a dog’s nose sticking out of the water.
As he pulled the young Lab mix out, Jones was horrified to see cinder blocks tied to her head and her feet bound together. Someone had also attached a letter to the dog, saying they wanted her to die.
Jones took the uninjured dog, who he named Serendipity, to a shelter, where she was available for adoption into a loving forever home.
Click here to read more.
May: Pit Bull Saves Woman and Baby from Attack by Fake UPS Driver
As she held her baby in her arms, a woman in Bethany, Okla., was doused with pepper spray by a man on her porch who was dressed as a UPS driver. When Louie, the family’s Pit Bull, heard the commotion, he raced to the door and chased the intruder off the property.
That same week, two Pit Bulls described as “lazy couch potatoes” by Maura Long, their dog mom, sprang into action when a man posing as a utility worker forcibly entered their house in Wilkes-Barre, Penn. The dogs pinned the man against a wall.
“So for everybody that says Pit Bulls are bad, they came to my rescue pretty quick,” Long said.
Click here to read more.
June: Rescued 13-Year-Old Lab Rescues New Family from Gas Leak
Chip, a recently rescued 13-year-old Chocolate Lab, returned the favor by alerting his family to a gas leak in their Westport, Mass., home.
He woke up his new dog mom, Corry Barboza, early one morning by jumping on and off the bed, and pacing around in circles. When Barboza opened her bedroom door, the smell of gas was overwhelming.
She was able to get her family, including Chip, safely out of the house.
Barboza said she’d had no concerns about adopting a senior dog – as she pointed out, “Age is just a number.”
Click here to read more.
July: Rescued Mastiff Mix Saves Family From Fire Two Weeks Later
After being found abandoned and wandering the streets of Long Island, N.Y., a 150-pound Neapolitan Mastiff mix named Bear really paid it forward to the family that adopted him.
Bear jumped on the bed of his new dog mom, Carolyn Swinson, alerting her to a house fire even before the smoke detectors went off.
All of the Swinsons, including their new four-legged family member, were able to escape without harm.
The fire destroyed the house’s porch along with all of Bear’s toys. The shelter from which Bear was adopted held a toy drive to replace them all.
Click here to read more.
August: 6-Pound Rescued Yorkie Chases 100-Pound Bear Out of House
Leaving the front door open, Deborah Epstein, who’d been resting on the front porch of her Ringwood, N.J., home, went inside to answer the phone.
Joe, her 6-year-old Yorkie, suddenly started barking furiously.
When Epstein turned to see what the ruckus was about, a young black bear stared back at her. As the bear approached Joe’s food bowl, the 6-pound pup started attacking it. The startled bear ran out of the house.
“I saved him from the pound, and he saved me from a bear,” Epstein said of Joe. “We’re even.”
Click here to read more.
September: Family Dog Alerts Parents to Abusive Babysitter
Whenever babysitter Alexis Kahn arrived at the Jordan family’s home in Charleston, S.C., their dog, a Black Lab-German Shepherd mix named Killian, would start growling. The hair would go up on the back of his neck, and he would stand between Kahn and the Jordan’s 7-month-old son, Finn.
Concerned that Kahn might be abusing Killian while they were away, Benjamin and Hope Jordan hid an iPhone under a sofa to get an audio recording of what was happening. They heard slapping noises and crying – it was Finn, not Killian, who was being abused.
Kahn confessed the abuse, and is serving a three-year prison term for assault and battery. Thanks to Killian, she will never be able to work with children again.
Click here to read more.
October: Rescued Pit Bull Rescues Cat Friend from Coyote Attack
When Jack, a rescued Pit Bull, saw his best buddy, a rescued cat named Kitty, being attacked by coyotes in their Seminole, Fla., backyard, he wasted no time in saving her life.
“I didn’t know Jack could run that fast,” said Sherree Lewis, who is pet-sitting her son’s dog while he’s deployed in Afghanistan.
Jack chased off the coyotes, who were violently shaking Kitty. Thanks to her buddy’s quick action, Kitty survived. As she recuperated from brain swelling and a broken tooth, Jack refused to leave his BFF’s side.
Click here to read more.
November: Austin Firefighters Save Dog Stranded in Flash Flood
As firefighters Matt Harvey, Michael Cooper and their crew went door-to-door to check on people after a flash flood in Austin, Texas, they spotted a dog stranded in about 12 feet of water that had overflowed from a creek.
“It was out swimming in the water, and as the crews were rescuing people they rescued that dog,” said Battalion Chief Thayer Smith.
A photo of the dog, named Panda, hugging a firefighter as she was carried to safety went viral.
Click here to read more.
December: Hero Guide Dog Has Forever Home with Blind Man Thanks to Donations
Cecil Williams, who is blind, fainted and fell off a Harlem subway platform earlier this month. His 11-year-old seeing-eye dog, Orlando, jumped down onto the tracks next to him, licking his face to rouse him.
Both Williams and Orlando were run over by a train, but, miraculously, they survived. When Williams told the Associated Press that Orlando is retiring early next year and would have to be rehomed, thousands of people immediately contributed to online funds, ensuring that the two will stay together for the rest of the hero dog’s life.
Click here to read more.
The post Tissue Alert! Top i Love Dogs Feel-Good Stories of 2013 appeared first on i Love Dogs.